The procurator representing a group of parents and alumni of Crafton’s St. Philip Catholic School has asked Bishop David Zubik for a sit-down meeting.

Colin Wrabley, a Pittsburgh lawyer, penned a letter on behalf of around 600 people who have joined in opposition to the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s decision to close St. Philip school as part of a merger with St. Margaret Scotland School in Green Tree.

Shortly after the announcement in February, a group of parents of students and some alumni dubbed Committee to Save St. Philip School appealed the decision by collecting “mandates,” which, according to canon (church) law, are needed in order to proceed with the appeal through a procurator and an attorney.

Wrabley serves as the group’s procurator, an agent who represents the group in the canonical appeal process. The group’s appeal is being represented by Philip Gray, a canon lawyer for the Ohio-based St. Joseph Foundation, a lay group that takes on legal issues in Catholic canon law.

Wrabley’s four-page letter made it clear the group wants Zubik to reverse the decision to close the century-old school, “or at least suspend it through the 2021-22 school year, to enable proper deliberation and dialog to take place about the matter and to give the St. Philip community a full and fair opportunity — one our community was never given — to demonstrate its commitment to keeping the school at St. Philip.”

He then asked for a meeting between himself, Gray and Zubik “in the spirit of dialog and cooperation.”

Wrabley said reversing the decision to close the school would restore trust among an “increasingly skeptical faithful — and general public” and ultimately could lead to “substantial increase in financial contributions and fundraising support for many years and decades to come.”

Wrabley has said the diocese has a month to respond to the group’s appeal. If there is no response, the appeal is considered a “deemed denial” and it moves to a higher tribunal before possibly reaching the Apostolic Signatura, the Catholic Church’s version of the U.S. Supreme Court.

A spokesman for the diocese said it “has no additional comment at this time.”

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